Gun-carriage



Feb. 8, 1938. I HOLEK 2,107,824

GUN CARRIAGE Filed Sept. 29, 1956 Patented Feb. 8, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GUN CARRIAGE Application September 29, 1936', Serial No. 103,139 In Czechoslovakia October 4, 1935 3 Claims.

My invention relates to gun supports and more especially to gun-carriages of the tripod type comprising a trail and two wheel carrying feet.

It is an object of my invention to provide means whereby the changing over of the tripod feet from the travelling position to firing position is simplified and expedited.

In the gun mounting according to this invention the two tripod feet are movably connected with the central gun support in such manner that they can be folded up and in the folded up position form with the trail a triangular carriage structure. To this end I subdivide the two feet into two pivotally connected sections, wherein the outer section carrying the wheel forms a doublearmed lever capable of swinging about the wheel axis.

A gun-carriage such as here described is not only very simple in design, but also enables the carriage to be changed over quickly from travelling to firing position, this being render-ed possible more particularly by the fact that the weight of the gun and gun support proper rests on the Wheels also during the changing over, the wheels facilitating the folding up of the feet by allowing them to be rotated about the wheel axis.

In the drawing affixed to this specification and forming part thereof a gun-carriage embodying my invention is illustrated diagrammatically by way of example.

In the drawing Fig. l is an elevation, one of the wheels being left away for the sake of clearness; and

Fig. 2 is a plan view corresponding to Fig. 1, 35 the contiguous ends of the two parts of one of the feet being shown in horizontal section.

Referring to the drawing I is the hollow center column of the carriage body, on which turns the forked gun mounting 5 with the gun 6. 2, 2 are hinge pins, by means of which the two short links 3 are hinged to the column I, means such as nuts 2a. being provided for securing the links 3 in any desired position relative to the column. 3' are the outer sections of the bipartite foldable feet and 4 is the trail, which is hinged to the column I in a similar manner. I are spades mounted on the ends of the trail and feet.

The adjoining ends I0, I0 of the bipartite feet 3, 3' are enlarged to form heads, the plane of contact between the two heads intersecting the trail at an acute angle and the pivot pins I I extending at right angles to this plane. Nuts I2 screwable on the pins I I serve to firmly press the two heads I0 against each other and in order to be able to secure these heads in any desired relative position, they are serrated as shown at I3.

The angle enclosed between the plane of contact of the feet sections and the feet 3, 3' proper is so chosen that on the outer section 3 of a foot being folded up as shown for instance in the 5 upper half of Fig. 2, its end, on which the spade I is mounted, contacts with the trail 4 and can be fixed in this position by means of a clamp I 1 or the like mounted on the trail.

An arm forming a stub axle I8 extending from each outer foot section 3' at an angle approaching a right angle carries a wheel I 5 mounted on a journal I6.

If the gun-carriage shall be changed over from firing to travelling position, the nuts l2 are loosened and the outer sections 3' of the feet are turned about the wheel axles I6, until their ends come in contact with the trail 4 and can be fixed to it by means of the clamp II. In this folded up position the gun-carriage rests on the two parallelly mounted wheels and the end of the trail 4 and now forms a triangular two-wheeled carriage.

When changing over to firing position, the outer ends 3 of the feet are turned through an angle of about 180 into the position shown in the lower half of Fig. 2 and are fixed in this position by means of the nuts I2. In this position the wheel axles extend almost in parallel to the trail 4 andthe reaction on the gun being fired is now transmitted onto the wheels in the direction of the wheel axles, so that the stability of the carriage structure is not impaired.

It is however also possible to relieve the wheels of any stresses in the firing position by removing the ground below the wheels or fixing the outer sections 3' of the feet at an obtuse angle to the inner sections 3, whereby the wheels I5 are lifted free of the ground, the gun-carriage then resting merely on the three spades I.

Obviously, instead of inner sections 3 hinged to the central column I I may also provide arms rigidly fixed to or formed in one part with this column.

In each case the two foldable members, which, together with the trail, support the central column I and the gun, are hinged to this central column in such manner that, when folded up, they extend towards and into contact with the trail 50 and form with the latter a triangular carriage structure. The arrangement of the wheels on stub axles extending radially from the foldable supporting members provides for a double-lever action of these members when turning about their hinge pins II. and this lever action greatly facilitates the folding and unfolding.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A wheel carriage for guns comprising in combination, a central gun support, a trail and two feet forming a tripod, each foot being subdivided into an inner and an outer section, the planes of subdivision extending at an acute angle to the feet axes and intersecting said trail, a wheel axle extending from each outer section near the inner end thereof and a Wheel on said axle.

2. The wheel carriage of claim 1, in which the inner sections of the feet are hinged to the central gun support.

3. The wheel carriage of claim 1, in which the contacting ends of the two sections of each foot are formed with friction creating means.

FRANTISEK I-IOLEK. 

